Saturday, January 22, 2011

I'm leaving the blog to go dormant for a while, as I'm sure some of you have already noticed, but didn't feel right about not saying anything about a recent screening in my area of Mr. Bug Goes To Town which played here last Sunday.

Crispen Glover and Charlie Chaplin on the same bill? What kind of crazy town is this?

The Pacific Cinematheque is a small art-house theater in downtown Vancouver. The screen is not too large but large enough to approximate the scale of a 35mm. The audience drew mostly young animation students and a few families and their kids.

This was the first time I had ever seen it with Paramount Logos and original titles. This re-issue titled version above has been the only way I've ever been able to see it for years! For those curious the 'Mr. Bug Goes to Town' titles are the identical font to the one above. However the truck-in starts in the right spot!

If you look at the title card that follows 'HOPPITY GOES TO TOWN' above there's a bit of a jump. The camera shot was restored in this print of 'Mr. Bug Goes To Town' beginning properly in a deeper blue part of the star field before panning off to the planet below. The soundtrack starts with the Paramount Logo which was new for me as was the logo itself: almost a Puppetoon version-wish I had snapped a photo!

I'm not sure if it was just because I was hearing the soundtrack through a theater's sound system but the sound on this was probably the best I've ever heard. Fleischer soundtracks occasionally come off as a little thin or distorted. This could be due to the transfer but the AMC version which I'm using to illustrate this post suffers from this ... only very slightly ... but I noticed the difference with last Sunday's 'Mr. Bug'. It really sounded great - very clear and full!

According to Jerry Beck, the film is a recent restoration from the UCLA Film & Television Archive struck from the negative they have there. It screened in LA in recent months and Jerry was able to tip off the Cinemateque's program director where to find it. Of the versions I know of (which now number 4 - one of which is 16mm) this Japanese Print is as close an approximation of what was shown ... though not quite as dark. If anybody can clarify any further drop me a comment!

The AMC version is also missing a line: Mr. Bumbles reply to Smack & Swat's "It's us, boss". The line was present in the UCLA print.

Of course one always hopes that some day this and some of the other goodies, like the newly restored Raven, which are housed at UCLA will get green-lit for a still Paramount controlled Fleischer DVD retrospective. I know they have good materials on the Color Classics, a series poorly represented (in beat, dark & faded 16mm prints) in the DVD market for years, but that's the subject of another rage ... er I mean post.

"During the span of years from 1914, I have made efforts to retain the "cartoony" effect. That is, I did not welcome the trend of the industry to go "arty". It was, and still is, my opinion that a cartoon should represent, in simple form, the cartoonist's mental expression. In other words the "animated oil painting" has taken the place of the flashiness and delightfulness of the simple cartoon.

In my opinion, the industry must pull back. Pull away from the tendencies toward realism. It must stay in it's own backyard of "The Cartoonist's Cartoon." The cartoon must be a portrayal of the expression of the true cartoonist, in simple, unhampered cartoon style. The true cartoon is a great art in it's own right. It does not need the assistance or support of "Artiness." In fact, it is actually hampered by it." - Max Fleischer